Dhaka, Dec. 1 -- Medical technologists and pharmacists across Bangladesh have threatened a nationwide shutdown of healthcare services if their salaries are not upgraded to the 10th grade of the national pay scale -- a demand they say has remained unmet for more than three decades.

To press home their demand, professionals under the banner of the "Medical Technologists and Pharmacists 10th Grade Implementation Council" observed a two-hour work stoppage at hospitals across the country on Sunday, from 9:00am to 11:00am.

"We have been demanding 10th grade salaries for 31 years, but it has yet to be implemented," said Tushar Ahmed Niloy, chief of the council's media cell.

He said the organisation had issued an ultimatum at a press conferenc...